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From today's featured article

Master Juba (c. 1825 – c. 1854) was an African-American dancer. He was one of the first black performers in the United States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era to tour with a white minstrel group. He began his career in Manhattan's Five Points neighborhood and moved to minstrel shows in the mid-1840s. His act featured a sequence in which he imitated famous dancers, then closed by performing in his style. In 1848, he became a sensation in Britain for his dance style, but writers treated him as an exhibit on display. Juba's popularity faded and he died around 1854, probably of fever. He was largely forgotten by historians until a 1947 article by Marian Hannah Winter popularized his story. Juba's dancing style was percussive, varied in tempo and expressive. It likely incorporated European folk steps and African-derived steps used by plantation slaves. Juba was highly influential in the development of tap, jazz, and step-dancing styles. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Charter of the College of William & Mary

... that the College of William & Mary was established by royal charter (pictured) 333 years ago today?
... that Richard Lee Morton became the head of the College of William & Mary's history department after two years of teaching?
... that Chandler Court and Pollard Park, which were designed and occupied by William & Mary faculty, have been called "two of Williamsburg's most appealing twentieth-century neighborhoods"?
... that Denver Mills, the first underclassman to be captain of the William & Mary football team, also played in the army and a single NFL game?
... that William & Mary's president was unable to get the college to fund the William and Mary Quarterly, so he paid for it himself?
... that Orlando Jones, the maternal grandfather of Martha Washington, was one of William & Mary's first students?
... that five speeches by William & Mary students helped to move Virginia's capital and establish Williamsburg?
... that Althea Hunt founded the William & Mary Theatre, but discouraged students from trying to make a career of it?
... that Thomas Jefferson pushed William & Mary to hire a man with little linguistic ability as its first professor of modern languages?

In the news

Winter Olympics opening ceremony

The Winter Olympics open (ceremony pictured) in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Libyan presidential candidate Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, is assassinated.
Attacks on two villages by Islamist gunmen in Kwara State, Nigeria, kill at least 162 people.
At the Grammy Awards, "Luther" by Kendrick Lamar and SZA wins Record of the Year, and Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny wins Album of the Year.

On this day

February 8: Feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita (Catholicism); Military Foundation Day in North Korea (1948)

Denis Sassou Nguesso

1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.
1910 – William D. Boyce established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States.
1965 – After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board.
1979 – Denis Sassou Nguesso (pictured) was chosen as the new President of the Republic of the Congo after Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced from power.
1981 – Rhodesian Bush War: Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army cadres in Gwelo attacked Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army troops, killing over 60 of them and starting the 1981 Entumbane uprising.

Guercino (b. 1591)
Rebecca Lee Crumpler (b. 1831)
Peter Kropotkin (d. 1921)
Emman Atienza (b. 2006)

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Today's featured picture

Paula Modersohn-Becker (8 February 1876 – 20 November 1907) was a pioneering German painter who made significant contributions to the development of modern art in the early 20th century. Born in Dresden, she displayed artistic talent from an early age and went on to receive formal training from local painter Bernhard Wiegandt. She then moved to join the Worpswede artists' colony in northern Germany, receiving tuition from Fritz Mackensen. Modersohn-Becker is celebrated for her role in the emergence of Expressionism and her innovative approach to portraiture and self-portraiture. This Self-Portrait at 6th Wedding Anniversary was painted in 1906 and is now in the collection of the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum in Bremen.

Painting credit: Paula Modersohn-Becker

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